DOCSLIB.ORG

The Outside Actors That Have Shaped the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Outside Actors That Have Shaped the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Escalating to Nowhere: The Israeli-Palestinian War – The Outside Actors 3/4/2005 Page i CSIS_______________________________ Center for Strategic and International Studies 1800 K Street N.W. Washington, DC 20006 (202) 775-3270 [email protected] Escalating to Nowhere: The Israeli-Palestinian War Rough Working Draft: Circulated for Comment and Correction The Outside Actors that Have Shaped the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Anthony H. Cordesman Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy Center for Strategic and International Studies With the Assistance of Jason A. Wittemen and Richard G. Young February 23, 2005 Copyright Anthony H. Cordesman, all rights reserved. No further reproduction is permitted without the author’s express written permission. Quotation or reference is permitted with proper attribution. Escalating to Nowhere: The Israeli-Palestinian War – The Outside Actors 3/4/2005 Page ii Introduction The reader should be aware that this is an initial rough draft. The text is being circulated for comment and will be extensively revised over time. It reflects the working views of the author and does not reflect final conclusions or the views of the CSIS. Copyright Anthony H. Cordesman, all rights reserved. No further reproduction is permitted without the author’s express written permission. Quotation or reference is permitted with proper attribution. Escalating to Nowhere: The Israeli-Palestinian War – The Outside Actors 3/4/2005 Page iii TABLE OF CONTENTS IX. THE OUTSIDE ACTORS THAT HAVE SHAPED THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT.............1 OUTSIDE ACTORS: THE HIZBOLLAH..........................................................................................................................1 Hizbollah Support of Palestinian Violence ..........................................................................................................2 The Risk of a “Northern Front”...........................................................................................................................4 Linkages to Syria, Lebanon and Iran ...................................................................................................................8 The Hizbollah’s Future Role..............................................................................................................................10 OUTSIDE ACTORS: IRAN ..........................................................................................................................................11 Iran before the War............................................................................................................................................11 Iranian Support of Palestinian Militancy...........................................................................................................12 Iran in the International “War on Terror” ........................................................................................................13 OUTSIDE ACTORS: SYRIA ........................................................................................................................................14 Syria during the Peace Process .........................................................................................................................15 Syria during the Israeli-Palestinian War ...........................................................................................................16 Syria in the International “War on Terror”.......................................................................................................17 OUTSIDE ACTORS: JORDAN .....................................................................................................................................18 The Shaping of the Jordanian-Palestinian Relationship....................................................................................19 Jordan and the Peace Process ...........................................................................................................................21 The Jordanian Campaign against Militancy......................................................................................................23 Jordan and the Israeli-Palestinian War.............................................................................................................24 OUTSIDE ACTORS: IRAQ ..........................................................................................................................................26 Copyright Anthony H. Cordesman, all rights reserved. No further reproduction is permitted without the author’s express written permission. Quotation or reference is permitted with proper attribution. Escalating to Nowhere: The Israeli-Palestinian War – The Outside Actors 3/4/2005 Page 1 IX. The Outside Actors that Have Shaped the Israeli- Palestinian Conflict While Israel and the various Palestinian factions are the key actors in the conflict, other actors have played important roles and will continue to do so in the future. These actors include the Lebanese Hizbollah, Iran, Syria, Jordan and Iraq. Outside Actors: The Hizbollah When the Hizbollah was established in 1982, its primary goal was to force Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon. When it achieved this goal in May 2000, its focus began to broaden, although it still challenged Israel over disputed territories like the Shebaa Farms region in the foothills of Mount Hermon. Since September 2000, following Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem and the subsequent Palestinian uprising, Hizbollah has become much more outspoken in its support for the Palestinian cause. It has repeatedly said that it seeks the withdrawal of Israel from all territory it considers occupied and as rightfully belonging to Arabs. Hizbollah continues to garner strong support from the Lebanese, Syrian and Iranian governments. It engages in both political and military activity, and its structure is hierarchical, disciplined and secretive. Its central decision-making body is the seven-member Majlis Shura al- Qarar (“Decision-making Consultative Council”), which is presided over by Sheik Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah. Though he is clearly recognized as Hizbollah’s leader, Nasrallah shares power with the other members of the council. Their decisions are generally reached by consensus or a vote. There are also a number of other bodies and committees below the Consultative Council, including the Politburo, which provides advice to the Council, and the General Convention, which implements Council orders and plans day-to-day operations in Lebanon.1 Other elements also influence Hizbollah decision-making. High-ranking resistance fighters are influential, due in part to their privileged status in the General Convention and the fact that their former commanders are often elected to the Consultative Council. In addition, the security and intelligence agencies play an important role in the group, particularly Amn al-Hizb (the “Party’s Security”), which is believed to protect Hizbollah leaders, preserve discipline and monitor all levels of the Hizbollah hierarchy, including the Consultative Council. Moreover, Copyright Anthony H. Cordesman, all rights reserved. No further reproduction is permitted without the author’s express written permission. Quotation or reference is permitted with proper attribution. Escalating to Nowhere: The Israeli-Palestinian War – The Outside Actors 3/4/2005 Page 2 Iran and Syria, due to their financial and political support, also significantly impact Hizbollah decisions.2 Hizbollah operates a twenty-four-hour global television and radio station, Al Manar, which is reportedly owned by members of Hizbollah’s political branch and receives instructions from Hizbollah’s propaganda wing.3 Al Manar continually solicits donations for Hizbollah during programming breaks. The money is used not only for Hizbollah’s humanitarian operations, but also for terrorist activities and propaganda. Donations can be made to four different banks in Lebanon, which illustrates the Lebanese government’s refusal to freeze Hizbollah’s assets.4 Almost inevitably, Hizbollah reacted strongly to the outbreak of the Israeli-Palestinian War in September 2000. An official statement from the group referred to Sharon’s visit as “a deliberate desecration of Muslim holy places in Jerusalem, a criminal act and an insolent provocation of the feelings and dignities of the Arab and Muslim people.” The group further described Sharon’s visit as a crime and “…a declaration of war on Muslim sacred places in Jerusalem…”5 In October 2000, Al Manar broadcast speeches by Sheik Nasrallah that were clearly designed to incite Palestinian hostility. One such speech included a call to stab Israelis to death: “If you don’t have bullets, who among you doesn’t have knives? Hide the knife, and when he comes close to the enemy let him stab him. Let the stab be fatal.”6 In another instance, Sheik Nasrallah appeared on the independent satellite television station al-Jazeera, in Qatar, and addressed the Palestinians as “holy war comrades-in-arms” and proposed a strategy of gradually escalating the uprising from stones to daggers to firearms and other means of military combat.7 He also reportedly encouraged Palestinians to fight Israelis using suicide operations. Hizbollah Support of Palestinian Violence Hizbollah has since offered continued political support and guidance to Palestinian fighters. Typically, this support has manifested in the form of rhetoric in the international mass media. In October 2000, Nasrallah stated that Hizbollah
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Negotiating in Times of Conflict
    cover Negotiating in Times of Conflict Gilead Sher and Anat Kurz, Editors Institute for National Security Studies The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), incorporating the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, was founded in 2006. The purpose of the Institute for National Security Studies is first, to conduct basic research that meets the highest academic standards on matters related to Israel’s national security as well as Middle East regional and international security affairs. Second, the Institute aims to contribute to the public debate and governmental deliberation of issues that are – or should be – at the top of Israel’s national security agenda. INSS seeks to address Israeli decision makers and policymakers, the defense establishment, public opinion makers, the academic community in Israel and abroad, and the general public. INSS publishes research that it deems worthy of public attention, while it maintains a strict policy of non-partisanship. The opinions expressed in this publication are the authors’ alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Institute, its trustees, boards, research staff, or the organizations and individuals that support its research. Negotiating in Times of Conflict Gilead Sher and Anat Kurz, Editors משא ומתן בעת סכסוך גלעד שר וענת קורץ, עורכים Graphic design: Michal Semo-Kovetz and Yael Bieber Cover design: Tali Niv-Dolinsky Printing: Elinir Institute for National Security Studies (a public benefit company) 40 Haim Levanon Street POB 39950 Ramat Aviv Tel Aviv 6997556 Israel Tel. +972-3-640-0400 Fax. +972-3-744-7590 E-mail: [email protected] http:// www.inss.org.il © 2015 All rights reserved.
    [Show full text]
  • (Title of the Thesis)*
    WATCHING THE WAR AND KEEPING THE PEACE: THE UNITED NATIONS TRUCE SUPERVISION ORGANIZATION (UNTSO) IN THE MIDDLE EAST, 1949-1956 by Andrew Gregory Theobald A thesis submitted to the Department of History In conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada (May, 2009) Copyright ©Andrew Gregory Theobald, 2009 Abstract By virtue of their presence, observers alter what they are observing. Yet, the international soldiers of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) did much more than observe events. From August 1949 until the establishment of the United Nations Emergency Force in November 1956, the Western military officers assigned to UNTSO were compelled to take seriously the task of supervising the Arab-Israeli armistice, despite the unwillingness of all parties to accept an actual peace settlement. To the extent that a particular peacekeeping mission was successful – i.e., that peace was “kept” – what actually happened on the ground is usually considered far less important than broader politics. However, as efforts to forge a peace settlement failed one after another, UNTSO operations themselves became the most important mechanism for regional stability, particularly by providing a means by which otherwise implacable enemies could communicate with each other, thus helping to moderate the conflict. This communication played out against the backdrop of the dangerous early days of the Cold War, the crumbling of Western empires, and the emergence of the non- aligned movement. Analyses of the activities of the Mixed Armistice Commissions (MACs), the committees created to oversee the separate General Armistice Agreements signed between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, particularly those during the 1954 to 1956 tenure as UNTSO chief of staff of Canadian Major-General E.L.M.
    [Show full text]
  • Volume 162 January 2012
    Applied Research Institute ‐ Jerusalem (ARIJ) P.O Box 860, Caritas Street – Bethlehem, Phone: (+972) 2 2741889, Fax: (+972) 2 2776966. [email protected] | http://www.arij.org Volume 162, January 2012 Issue http://www.arij.org The Monthly overview report gives a list of the Israeli Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory which are The text is not quoted directly based on reports provided by field workers and\or by one or from the sources but is edited more of the following news sources: Al‐Ayyam daily for clarity. newspaper, Al‐Quds daily newspaper, Haaretz Daily Newspaper, Israel National News, The Jerusalem Post ‐ The daily report does not English‐language daily newspaper, Paltoday news‐website, necessarily reflect ARIJ’s Palpress news website, Palestine News Agency‐Wafa, opinion. Palestine News Network, Maʹan News Agency, Al Jazeera News Channel, Israel National News, and Yediot Ahronot – English website. Bethlehem • The Israeli occupation soldiers stormed several Palestinian houses in Beit Fajjar town south of Bethlehem city and messed with their contents. Al Quds (January 4, 2012). • The Israeli Occupation Army set up military checkpoint at the western entrance of Beit Jala city, at the DCO checkpoint area, and conducted military operations, checking the ID cards of Palestinians accessing the checkpoint and caused obstruction to the vehicular and pedestrian movements. Al Quds (January 5, 2012). • The Israeli occupation Authorities issued a second amendment and extension of validity to a previously issued military number 136/05/t which was issued back in 2005 and stated the confiscation of 115 dunums of lands of Khallet An Nahla and Wad Rahhal south of Bethlehem city for the construction of the Israeli Segregation wall.
    [Show full text]
  • Urgent Appeal to the United Nations Special Procedures on Intensified Yitzhar Settler Violence
    Urgent Appeal to the United Nations Special Procedures on Intensified Yitzhar Settler Violence Date: 17 February 2021 For the attention of: - The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, Mr. S. Michael Lynk; - The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Ms. Tlaleng Mofokeng; - The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Mr. Balakrishnan Rajagopal; - The United Nation Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation; Mr. Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, and - The United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Ms. E. Tendayi Achiume. 1. Overview Settler attacks against the protected Palestinian population and their properties in the occupied West Bank are a widespread, long-term, and worsening phenomenon. Such attacks are reinforced by Israel’s systematic failure to conduct effective investigations and prosecutions of offending settler, creating a climate of impunity. Highlighting this failure, the United Nations International Fact-Finding Mission on Settlements concluded in its 2013 report that “there is institutionalised discrimination against the Palestinian people when it comes to addressing violence.”1 While Al-Haq does not document every settler violence attack carried out, Al-Haq’s field researchers documented 197 settler attacks in 2020,2
    [Show full text]
  • The South Hebron Hills
    THE SOUTH HEBRON HILLS SOLDIERS TESTIMONIES 2010-2016 Breaking the Silence's activities are made possible through the generous support of individuals and foundations including: AECID, Bertha Foundation, Broederlijk Delen , CCFD , Dan Church Aid , Die Schwelle , the Delegation of the European Union to the State of Israel , Foundation for Middle East Peace , medico international , MISEREOR , The Moriah Fund , New Israel Fund , NGO Development Center (NDC), Open Society Foundations , OXFAM, Pro-Victimis Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund , Sigrid Rausing Trust , SIVMO , Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs , Trócaire, ZIVIK and the countless private individuals who have made contributions to our work over the past year . This list represents a list of donors correct to the date of publication. The contents and opinions of this publication do not represent those of our donors or partners and are the sole responsibility of Breaking the Silence. THE SOUTH HEBRON HILLS SOLDIERS TESTIMONIES 2010-2016 ISRAELI SOLDIERS TALK ABOUT THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES Introduction The South Hebron Hills is the southernmost part of the West Bank and includes the Palestinian towns of Yatta, Dura, Dhahiriyah, and the surrounding rural areas. The region includes approximately 122 Palestinian communities which together house close to 70,000 people, as well as roughly 8,500 settlers who live in settlements and unauthorized outposts affiliated with the Mount Hebron Regional Council.* The Palestinian population of the South Hebron Hills is primarily composed of Bedouin, as well as fellahin (farmers or agricultural laborers) cave dwellers, who lead a rural traditional lifestyle, earning their living primarily from agricultural work and sheep herding. Some are refugees who arrived in the West Bank after being expelled from Israel in 1948 and the years that followed, while others are descendants of families who have been living in the area for hundreds of years.
    [Show full text]
  • Locality Profiles and Needs Assessment in the Ramallah & Al
    Locality Profiles and Needs Assessment in the Ramallah & Al Bireh Governorate ARIJ welcomes any comments or suggestions regarding the material published herein and reserves all copyrights for this publication. This publication is available on the project’s homepage: http://proxy.arij.org/vprofile/ramallah and ARIJ homepage: http://www.arij.org Copyright © The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem (ARIJ) 2014 Acknowledgments ARIJ hereby expresses its deep gratitude to the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID) for their funding of this project. ARIJ is grateful to the Palestinian officials in the ministries, municipalities, joint services councils, village committees and councils, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) and civil society organizations for their assistance and cooperation with the project team members during the data collection process. Editors Jad Isaac Roubina Ghattas Nader Hrimat Contributors Iyad Khalifeh Elia Khalilieh Ayman Abu Zahra Juliette Bannoura Enas Bannourah Nadine Sahouri Hamza Halaybeh Flora Al-Qassis Ronal El Zughayyar Anas Al Sayeh Poppy Hardee Issa Zboun Jane Hilal Suhail Khalilieh Table Of Contents PART ONE: Introduction................................................................................................................ 6 Locality Profiles and Needs Assessment in Ramallah & Al Bireh Governorate....................7 1.1. Project Description and Objectives:.................................................................... 7 1.2. Project Activities:................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Jerusalem Report on the Israeli Colonization Activities in the West
    Applied Research Institute ‐ Jerusalem (ARIJ) P.O Box 860, Caritas Street – Bethlehem, Phone: (+972) 2 2741889, Fax: (+972) 2 2776966. [email protected] | http://www.arij.org Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem Report on the Israeli Colonization Activities in the West Bank & the Gaza Strip Volume 174, January 2013 Issue http://www.arij.org Bethlehem • Tens of Israeli settlers escorted by the Israeli Occupation Army (IOA) stormed and performed Talmudic rituals in Solomon pools area which is located between Al‐Khader and Artas villages in the southern of Bethlehem city. NBPRS (January 1, 2013) • A group of Israeli Settlers from Efrat settlement desecrated Al‐ Ahmadiya Mosque in Faghour area in Al‐Khader village south of Bethlehem city. RB2000 (January 2, 2013) • The Israeli Occupation Army (IOA) handed out a military order to demolish an agricultural room in Al‐Thaghra area in Al‐Khader village in the southern of Bethlehem city. The targeted room is owned by Ghneim family. NBPRS (January 2, 2013) • Israeli settlers living in the new outpost in Ein Al Qassis area torched an agricultural room in Thahr Ar Riyah area in Al Khader village west of Bethlehem city. The room is owned Citizen Ibrahim Gharib. It is worth mentioning that all roads leading to the land of Mr. Gharid are closed by settlers and the IOA, and land owners canʹt access their lands with their own vehicles as usual. Wafa (January 3, 2013). • The Israeli Occupation Force invaded the central of Bethlehem city, and toured in its street; The IOA also stormed Ayda refugee camp in the northern of Bethlehem city.
    [Show full text]
  • Smoothing the Striated Space of Occupation – the Struggle Over Space in the West Bank
    PAL PAPERS June 2014 Smoothing the Striated Space of Occupation – the Struggle over Space in the West Bank Christian Sowa Introduction: Space of the West Bankand the Increasing Importance of Space in Academia The international community and its decision-makers are constantly putting an emphasis on solving the Israel-Palestine conflict, but recent initiatives have shown the inability of their plans to bear fruit. The two-state solution dominates the international discourse and is considered to be the only viable option. Unfortunately, while this idea is continually discussed, the Israeli occupation of Palestinian space is increasing and new facts on the ground are being created. More and more settlements are emerging (or being “retroactively legalized”) in the West Bank which makes the idea of a viable Palestinian state more and more remote. To understand the several dimensions of Additionally, what forms of counter-powers occupation and their impact on the current opposing these plans exist? This article looks debate about the conflict, focusing on space is at the constant struggle for space in the West crucial. Space is a central medium where in the Bank, which is an extremely crucial issue for conflict occurs on the ground. On the one side, Israel, as well as for the Palestinians. Israel is constantly reproducing power-relations of occupation over space and controlling In recent years, an increasing focuses on Palestinians by regulating their movement. This space in academia is noticeable. The term is done by creating several Palestinian enclaves spatial turn (Crang /Thrift 2000, i) indicates the which fragment the space of the West Bank.
    [Show full text]
  • Bethlehem Factsheet.Indd
    Geopolitical Status of Bethlehem Governorate Jabal (mountain) Abu Ghneim, which sits opposite the town of Beit Sahour, was classified until 1991 as a “green area” by the Israeli occupying state, when the Israeli government approved the expropriation of the land and re-zoned it to a building area. In March 1997, the Israeli government announced it would build 6,500 housing units to accommodate 30,000+ Jewish residents. The first building phase was for 3,500 units, 500 of which were financed by the Israeli government and private investors financed the rest. As a result, more than 60,000 pine trees were uprooted and an entire ecosystem was destroyed. Geopolitical Status of Bethlehem Governorate 1 Lead-up Between the current millennium and the one before it, Bethlehem city has witnessed unprecedented changes to its life, in terms of the ruling periods. It started out early in the 20th century when the city was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire until it went under the British Mandate, the Jordanian rule, the Israeli Occupation to the time when the Palestinian Authority took control on parts of what became known as the Bethlehem Governorate. Table 1 list the ruling periods over Bethlehem. Table 1: Ruling periods over Bethlehem (1516-Present) Years Controlled by 1516-1917 Ottoman Empire 1918-1948 British Mandate 1949-1967 Trans-Jordan and later on the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan 1967-1995 The Israeli Occupation The Palestinian Authority assumed partial control, but Israel 1995-to date continued to occupy the majority of the Governorate, (see table 3) Bethlehem 1917 Bethlehem 1970 Geopolitical Status of Bethlehem Governorate 2 Bethlehem 2000 Bethlehem 2006 Geopolitical Status of Bethlehem Governorate 3 The Israeli Segregation Plan in the Occupied Palestinian Territory An Overview In June 2002, the Israeli Government launched its policy of unilateral segregation between Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) by establishing a Segregation Zone along the western terrains of the occupied West Bank.
    [Show full text]
  • Who Shot Mohammed Al-Dura? | Fallows Page 1 of 8
    The Atlantic | June 2003 | Who Shot Mohammed al-Dura? | Fallows Page 1 of 8 Print this Page Close Window The Atlantic Monthly | June 2003 Who Shot Mohammed al-Dura? The image of a boy shot dead in his helpless father's arms during an Israeli confrontation with Palestinians has become the Pietà of the Arab world. Now a number of Israeli researchers are presenting persuasive evidence that the fatal shots could not have come from the Israeli soldiers known to have been involved in the confrontation. The evidence will not change Arab minds—but the episode offers an object lesson in the incendiary power of an icon BY JAMES FALLOWS ..... he name Mohammed al-Dura is barely known in the United States. Yet to a billion people in the Muslim world it is an infamous symbol of grievance against Israel and—because of this country's support for Israel —against the United States as well. Al-Dura was the twelve-year-old Palestinian boy shot and killed during an exchange of fire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian demonstrators on September 30, 2000. The final few seconds of his life, when he crouched in terror behind his father, Jamal, and then slumped to the ground after bullets ripped through his torso, were captured by a television camera and broadcast around the world. Through repetition they have become as familiar and significant to Arab and Islamic viewers as photographs of bombed-out Hiroshima are to the people of Japan—or as footage of the crumbling World Trade Center is to Americans. Several Arab countries have issued postage stamps carrying a picture of the terrified boy.
    [Show full text]
  • Ethnicity, Rebel Diplomacy, and State Support for Insurgency
    University of Mississippi eGrove Honors College (Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors Theses Honors College) 2016 Their Brothers' Keepers? Ethnicity, Rebel Diplomacy, and State Support for Insurgency Connor Somgynari University of Mississippi. Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Somgynari, Connor, "Their Brothers' Keepers? Ethnicity, Rebel Diplomacy, and State Support for Insurgency" (2016). Honors Theses. 224. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/224 This Undergraduate Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College (Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College) at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THEIR BROTHER’S KEEPERS? ETHNICITY, REBEL DIPLOMACY, AND STATE SUPPORT FOR INSURGENCY ©2016 By C. J. Somgynari A thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for completion Of the Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies Croft Institute for International Studies Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College The University of Mississippi University, Mississsippi May, 2016 Approved Advisor: Dr. Yael Zeira Second Reader: Dr. Kees Gispen Third Reader: Dr. Benjamin Jones ii ©2016 C. J. Somgynari ALL RIGHTS RESERVED iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I cannot begin to thank the following individuals enough; without their help, support, and patience, this project would have not been possible. My thesis committee members, Yael Zeira, Kees Gispen, and Ben Jones, provided me with invaluable feedback that helped me develop my paper into the refined product it is today. I am in gratitude to each of them.
    [Show full text]
  • Fråga-Svar Arab Liberation Front
    2012-12-04 Fråga-svar Arab Liberation Front Fråga Information efterfrågas om Arab Liberation Front ( - - ). När grundades organisationen? Vilka är dess mål? Vilka medel används för att nå dessa mål? Vilken kapacitet/aktivitetsgrad har ALF idag? Svar Arab Liberation Front (ALF) grundades 1969 av det irakiska Baathpartiet och stod (till år 2003) inom Saddamregimens inflytelsesfär. Under Saddamregimens tid var ALF den mest betydande palestinska organisationen bland de då c:a 30-40 000 palestinierna i Irak. ALF har inte varit involverat i några militära attacker mot Israel sedan 1990-talet och tros egentligen inte längre besitta något som kan betecknas som militär kapacitet. Gruppen är i praktiken av marginell betydelse även på de palestinska områdena, där delar av organisationen övergått i Palestinian Arab Front (PAF). ALF har dock fortfarande representationskontor i Betlehem, Gaza, Hebron, Jenin och Tulkarm. Arab Liberation Front har behållit sitt medlemskap i PLO även om man motsatte sig Oslo-avtalet 1993 som slöts mellan PLO och Israel. Gruppens tydliga pro-irakiska profil (under Saddam-tiden) och dess ringa storlek har bidragit till att inflytandet varit tämligen begränsat. Ca 300 medlemmar deltog på Iraks sida under Kuwait-invasionen 1990. (Encyclopedia of the Palestinians 2005) The Arab Liberation Front (ALF) was established in 1969 by the Iraqi wing of the pan-Arab nationalist Ba'th Party to counter al-Sa'iqa, the group sponsored by the rival Syrian wing of the party. The ALF counted Zayd Haydar and the Jordanian Munif al-Razzaz among its Sida 1 av 7 early leaders. Other leaders have included Abd al-Rahim Ahmad and Mahmud Isma'il.
    [Show full text]